Yahoo launches Mail app for Android and iPad tablets

Yahoo has launched a revamped Mail app for iPad and Android tablets, which aims to make full use of the large displays.

Lee Parry, senior director of product management at Yahoo, noted the apps were developed to take advantage of "the beautiful screens and intuitive gestures".

He also gave some tips on how users can benefit from the touchscreen nature of devices.

"Tap the full-screen button in the lower left corner of your message to expand it across the entire screen. If you want to reply, delete, file or star a message simply tap anywhere on the screen and Yahoo Mail's familiar icons will appear," he noted in the Ymail blog.

"To move to the next message on your iPad, simply swipe, as if you're turning the page in a magazine."

The latest app is part of Yahoo's strategy of focusing on quality rather than quantity. The firm had approximately 75 apps, but announced in February it would cut this to 15 apps. Support for the Yahoo app on the Blackberry smartphone ended on 1 April.

However, Mail remains a core service for the firm so it is striving to compete with the likes of Google in this area. With many users around the globe complaining about the forced transition from Microsoft's Hotmail to Outlook.com, the launch of an intuitive email app could tempt users who are dissatified to Yahoo services.